Editing Incubator escapee wiki:Meetup (section)

==Basics for beginners==
There are lots of ways to organize a Wikipedia meetup. There is no need to request anyone's permission. Feel free to publicly advertise that you are hosting a Wikipedia meetup for anyone who wants to edit the wiki with the community of [[Volunteering|volunteer]] editors.

Although there are not particular requirements, for anyone who wants orientation, here is a proven model that works. As you plan your event, start here and modify this plan as appropriate for your situation.

# Get commitments from a few people, each of whom will serve one role and not be responsible for the other roles:
## Wikipedia editor – it is very useful to have at least one person who has edited Wikipedia before. At the very least, consider having someone take an online tutorial, make a few edits, and know how to ask questions in Wikipedia's help forums.
## Venue host – there has to be a place to meet. If the meeting is in a coffeehouse then someone should reserve a table. If the meeting is in a community center, like a library, museum, college, or similar, then confirm with a host that everyone has a space to meet.
## Subject matter expert – Wikipedia is a summary of information from reliable sources. To edit Wikipedia, someone has to curate and suggest reliable sources to summarize and cite. For example, if a Wikipedia event is in a library, then get a subject matter expert to select some books in advance – perhaps around a common theme for the meetup – and make them available to the event participants
## Community organizer – this is the person who invites people to the event. Since the event is for the benefit and enjoyment of the participants, then the person who can recruit participants to the event is typically also the person who sets the theme of the event. Common themes are local history, biographies of a certain group of people, or some set of social topics.
# Consider whether you want a record of outcomes
## If anyone involved in presenting the event is part of an organization, then typically they will want "outcome metrics" or "proof of impact".
### Organizations which support wiki events like getting evidence that participants actually accomplished something useful
### In general, a useful outcome is a list of what Wikipedia articles everyone edited and perhaps a record of how many people read those articles
## While there are many ways to get outcomes, the most popular way is to have participants sign up to the "[[:meta:Programs and Events Dashboard|Programs and Events Dashboard]]"
### Hopefully a new user can set up a program page in the dashboard in 10 minutes
### To use the dashboard, share the weblink with all attendees. If they register Wiki accounts, then they can join the dashboard participant list with a click
# Consider whether you want to connect with the broader Wikimedia community
## If you want a referral, then perhaps ask at [[Wikipedia:Pump]]
## Advantages:
### If you collaborate with others then you can join discussions about what you are doing
### If you are doing something similar to others then everyone shares in the outcomes toward a common goal
## Disadvantages
### Some people want to get started immediately without planning in advance
### Everyone is a volunteer, so probably to collaborate you have to join a global campaign like [[Wiki Loves Monuments]], [[Art+Feminism]], or some other project which rallies around a particular theme. If the themes match what you want, then great. If not, then those communities may not be available.